Pilot Testing and Preliminary Psychometric Validation of the Polish Translation of the EORTC INFO25 Questionnaire

The quality of information that oncological patients receive from health care professionals is an underestimated issue in Poland and Eastern European countries. There is lack of sufficient data on this subject. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) supplies a new tool for measuring the quality of information provided to cancer patients. The purpose of the study is the translation into Polish, pilot testing and preliminary validation of the EORTC information module (INFO25). Following the EORTC translation procedures, forward and back translations of the questionnaire were performed (English?→?Polish, Polish?→?English). The intermediate version of the INFO25 was pilot-tested together with the general questionnaire of quality of life (EORTC QLQ-C30). Reliability, validity and known-group comparison tests were performed. A total of 21 patients with different cancer diagnoses were recruited into the study (7 women and 14 men; mean age of 60,2 years, age range 25–73 years). Apart from filling out the INFO25, patients were interviewed about the difficulties with answering every questionnaire item. Patients' comments were analyzed and minor language changes were made to the initial translation. The internal consistency of the INFO25 showed a reliability of 0,78. The final version of the Polish translation of the INFO25 module was obtained and approved by the EORTC Quality of Life Department. It can now be used in clinical setting and for scientific purposes.     

Temporal order perception of auditory stimuli is selectively modified by tonal and non-tonal language environments

The close relationship between temporal perception and speech processing is well established. The present study focused on the specific question whether the speech environment could influence temporal order perception in subjects whose language backgrounds are distinctively different, i.e., Chinese (tonal language) vs. Polish (non-tonal language). Temporal order thresholds were measured for both monaurally presented clicks and binaurally presented tone pairs. Whereas the click experiment showed similar order thresholds for the two language groups, the experiment with tone pairs resulted in different observations: while Chinese demonstrated better performance in discriminating the temporal order of two “close frequency” tone pairs (600 Hz and 1200 Hz), Polish subjects showed a reversed pattern, i.e., better performance for “distant frequency” tone pairs (400 Hz and 3000 Hz). These results indicate on the one hand a common temporal mechanism for perceiving the order of two monaurally presented stimuli, and on the other hand neuronal plasticity for perceiving the order of frequency-related auditory stimuli. We conclude that the auditory brain is modified with respect to temporal processing by long-term exposure to a tonal or a non-tonal language. As a consequence of such an exposure different cognitive modes of operation (analytic vs. holistic) are selected: the analytic mode is adopted for “distant frequency” tone pairs in Chinese and for “close frequency” tone pairs in Polish subjects, whereas the holistic mode is selected for “close frequency” tone pairs in Chinese and for “distant frequency” tone pairs in Polish subjects, reflecting a double dissociation of function.     

Helping when the desire is low: Expectancy as a booster

Motivation and Emotion - One might assume that the desire to help (here described as Want) is the essential driver of helping declarations and/or behaviors. However, even if desire to help (Want)...     

Psychological Determinants of Entrepreneurial Success and Life-Satisfaction

The presented study focused on different stages of the entrepreneurial process. The first group comprised those starting a new business and the second group those who have been through the whole process of creating a new business and have now been operating in the market. The general aim of the article was to examine the relationship between action orientation, hope, goal commitment, entrepreneurial success, and life satisfaction, and to determine the role of psychological characteristics (hope, action orientation) in the entrepreneurial process. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 344 potential entrepreneurs in the prelaunch stage and 127 actual entrepreneurs in the post-launch stage. To analyze these relationships, multiple-group analysis was conducted.     

Does school suspension affect subsequent youth non‐violent antisocial behaviour? A longitudinal study of students in Victoria,Australia and Washington State,United States

School suspension has been not only associated with negative behaviours but also is predictive of future poor outcomes. The current study investigates (1) whether school suspension is a unique predictor of youth non‐violent antisocial behaviour (NVAB) relative to other established predictors, and (2) whether the predictors of NVAB are similar in Australia and the United States (USA). The data analysed here draw on two statewide representative samples of Grade 7 and 9 students in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, USA, resurveyed at 12‐month follow‐up (N = 3,677, 99% retention). School suspension did not uniquely predict NVAB in the final model. The predictors of NVAB, similar across states, included previous student NVAB, current alcohol and tobacco use, poor family management, association with antisocial friends, and low commitment to school. An implication of the findings is that US evidence‐based prevention programmes targeting the influences investigated here could be trialled in Australia.     

Affective processing in bilingual speakers: Disembodied cognition?

A recent study by Keysar, Hayakawa, and An (2012) suggests that “thinking in a foreign language” may reduce decision biases because a foreign language provides a greater emotional distance than a native tongue. The possibility of such “disembodied” cognition is of great interest for theories of affect and cognition and for many other areas of psychological theory and practice, from clinical and forensic psychology to marketing, but first this claim needs to be properly evaluated. The purpose of this review is to examine the findings of clinical, introspective, cognitive, psychophysiological, and neuroimaging studies of affective processing in bilingual speakers in order to identify converging patterns of results, to evaluate the claim about “disembodied cognition,” and to outline directions for future inquiry. The findings to date reveal two interrelated processing effects. First‐language (L1) advantage refers to increased automaticity of affective processing in the L1 and heightened electrodermal reactivity to L1 emotion‐laden words. Second‐language (L2) advantage refers to decreased automaticity of affective processing in the L2, which reduces interference effects and lowers electrodermal reactivity to negative emotional stimuli. The differences in L1 and L2 affective processing suggest that in some bilingual speakers, in particular late bilinguals and foreign language users, respective languages may be differentially embodied, with the later learned language processed semantically but not affectively. This difference accounts for the reduction of framing biases in L2 processing in the study by Keysar et al. (2012). The follow‐up discussion identifies the limits of the findings to date in terms of participant populations, levels of processing, and types of stimuli, puts forth alternative explanations of the documented effects, and articulates predictions to be tested in future research.